Reverse showrooming and merchant-customer engagement system

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for providing a merchant-customer engagement system include a physical merchant location in which a customer may be tracked to determine products within the physical merchant location that the customer is interested in. A merchant may use a wearable merchant device that is configured to identify the customer via a camera that captures an image of the customer, and that image may be used to retrieve customer account information for that customer. Using the customer account information and the products that the customer is showing interest in, the wearable merchant device may be used to display merchant-customer engagement information next to a view of the customer to allow the merchant to help the customer while utilizing a variety of displayed information about the customer including, for example, past purchases, products browsed in-store and previously browsed online, time spent in an area of the physical merchant location, etc.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This is a Continuation application to U.S. Utility application Ser. No.13/946,575 filed Jul. 19, 2013, entitled “REVERSE SHOWROOMING ANDMERCHANT-CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT, SYSTEM,” the disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety. This application isrelated to United States patent application, filed on Jul. 18, 2013 andentitled “Reverse Showrooming And Merchant-Customer Engagement System”Ser. No. 13/945,670. The entire content of the above-identifiedapplication is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to online and/or mobile paymentsand more particularly to a reverse showrooming and merchant-customerengagement system that may be used with online and/or mobile paymentsystems.

Related Art

More and more consumers are purchasing items and services overelectronic networks such as, for example, the Internet. Consumersroutinely purchase products and services from merchants and individualsalike. The transactions may take place directly between a conventionalor on-line merchant or retailer and the consumer, and payment istypically made by entering credit card or other financial information.Transactions may also take place with the aid of an on-line or mobilepayment service provider such as, for example, PayPal, Inc. of San Jose,Calif. Such payment service providers can make transactions easier andsafer for the parties involved. Purchasing with the assistance of apayment service provider from the convenience of virtually anywhereusing a mobile device is one main reason why on-line and mobilepurchases are growing very quickly.

A growing trend at physical merchant locations, sometimes referred to as“show-rooming”, involves customers visiting a first merchant's physicallocation to view and/or try out products offered by a first merchant.However, rather than purchasing those products, “show-rooming” customerswill typically then research the price of those products online (e.g.,after leaving the first merchant's physical location, at the firstmerchant's physical location on a mobile device, etc.), and end uppurchasing the product from a second, different merchant (e.g., at aphysical or online location.) Such activities result in lost sales formerchant's with physical locations, which can be particularly damagingwhen those sales are lost to online merchants with lower overhead due tothe lack of operating a physical location.

Thus, there is a need for improved merchant-customer engagement systemsand methods that increase the chance of customers making a purchase atmerchant physical locations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a method forproviding merchant-customer engagement;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view illustrating a merchant physical location;

FIG. 3 is a front view illustrating an embodiment of a customer in themerchant physical location of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4a is a screen shot illustrating an embodiment of a customerdetection screen view of the customer of FIG. 3 through a wearablemerchant device;

FIG. 4b is a screen shot illustrating an embodiment of a customerinformation screen view of the customer of FIG. 3 through a wearablemerchant device;

FIG. 4c is a screen shot illustrating an embodiment of a customerinformation screen view of the customer of FIG. 3 through a wearablemerchant device;

FIG. 4d is a screen shot illustrating an embodiment of a customerinformation screen view of the customer of FIG. 3 through a wearablemerchant device;

FIG. 5 is a front view illustrating an embodiment of a customerdetection screen view of the customer of FIG. 3 through a mobilemerchant device;

FIG. 6 is a front view illustrating an embodiment of a customer in themerchant physical location of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7a is a screen shot illustrating an embodiment of a customerdetection screen view of the customer of FIG. 6 through a wearablemerchant device;

FIG. 7b is a screen shot illustrating an embodiment of amerchant-customer engagement information screen view of the customer ofFIG. 6 through a wearable merchant device;

FIG. 7c is a screen shot illustrating an embodiment of amerchant-customer engagement information screen view of the customer ofFIG. 6 through a wearable merchant device;

FIG. 7d is a screen shot illustrating an embodiment of amerchant-customer engagement information screen view of the customer ofFIG. 6 through a wearable merchant device;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a networkedsystem;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of a customerdevice;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of a wearablemerchant device;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of a mobilemerchant device;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a computersystem; and

FIG. 13 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a systemprovider device.

Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are bestunderstood by referring to the detailed description that follows. Itshould be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identifylike elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, whereinshowings therein are for purposes of illustrating embodiments of thepresent disclosure and not for purposes of limiting the same.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure describes systems and methods for helpingcustomers at merchant physical locations. Such systems and methods maybe utilized to provide a merchant or merchant employee (hereinafter, a“merchant”) a variety of information about a customer that they arehelping so that a purchase by that customer may be facilitated. In someembodiments, the customer may be detected entering the merchant physicallocation, and a wide variety of actions performed by that customerwithin the physical location may be tracked. For example, the locationof the customer within the merchant physical location, the amount oftime the customer spends in different or designated areas in themerchant physical location, the products the customer handles, views, orotherwise interacts with, and/or a variety of other customer actionswithin the merchant physical location may be detected, tracked, and/orotherwise monitored. Furthermore, in some embodiments, previouspurchases made by the customer may be retrieved. In many embodiments,the merchant is provided a mobile merchant device for use in helping thecustomer, and when the merchant approaches the customer, any informationtracked, monitored, retrieved, or otherwise determined may be displayedas merchant-customer engagement information on the merchant mobiledevice so that the merchant may leverage that information to help thecustomer. For example, using information such as time spent indesignation locations in the merchant physical location, productshandled or viewed, and previous purchases, product recommendations maybe determined and displayed on the merchant mobile device so that themerchant may recommend those products to the customer. In someembodiments, the merchant mobile device may be a wearable mobile devicethat can display the merchant-customer engagement information adjacentthe merchant's view of the customer such that any help from the merchantprovided using the merchant-customer engagement information will occurin a seamless manner.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, embodiments of a method 100 and system200 for providing merchant-customer engagement are illustrated. Whilethe embodiment of the system 200 illustrated and discussed below isdirected to a “brick and mortar” merchant physical location, other typesof merchant physical locations such as, for example, mobile merchantlocations, temporary merchant locations, and/or a variety of othermerchant locations known in the art may benefit from the systems andmethods taught herein. Furthermore, while the embodiment of the method100 illustrated and discussed below includes a plurality of methodblocks performed in a specific order, some of those blocks may beoptional and/or not performed in different embodiments, or may beperformed at different times or in a different order than presentedherein. Thus, one of skill in the art in possession of the presentdisclosure will recognize that a wide variety of modification to thespecific embodiments illustrated and discussed herein will fall withinthe scope of the present disclosure.

Referring now to FIG. 2, an embodiment of a physical merchant location200 is illustrated. The physical merchant location 200 of FIG. 2 is asimplified schematic provided for clarity of illustration and discussionthat includes a plurality of walls 202 that define the merchant physicallocation 200 between them, along with an entrance 204 that providesaccess to the merchant physical location 200. A plurality of productareas 206 are located in the merchant physical location 200 and define aplurality of aisles 208 between them. A checkout area 210 is provided inthe merchant physical location 200 as a merchant or merchant employeecentral location and, in some situations, to allow for customers to payfor products. However, mobile payment systems (e.g., the mobile merchantdevices discussed below) may allow for customers to pay for productsanywhere in the merchant physical location 200.

In the illustrated embodiment, a system provider device 211 is includedin the merchant physical location 200 and may be operated by themerchant associated with the merchant physical location 200 in order toprovide the merchant-customer engagement system described herein.However, the system provider device 211 may also be a computing systemthat is connected through a network to a system provider device thathelps provides the merchant-customer engagement system described herein.In some embodiments, a plurality of sensors 212 are positioned aroundthe merchant physical location 200 and may be coupled to the systemprovider device 211 to enable the tracking and monitoring of customerswithin the merchant physical location 200 as discussed below. Thesensors 212 may include cameras, Near Field Communication (NFC) devices,Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices, location tracking devices(e.g., Global Positioning System (GPS) device, micro-GPS devices, Wifidevices, etc.), and/or any other sensor known in the art that may beused to provide the customer tracking and monitoring functionalitydiscussed below. In addition, products located in the product areas 206may also include devices for communicating with the system providerdevice 211, customer devices, and/or other devices utilized in themerchant-customer engagement system.

In an embodiment, the method 100 begins at block 102 where a customer isidentified in a merchant physical location. In one embodiment of block102 the customer may be identified as that customer enters the physicalmerchant location 200. However, in other embodiments, the customer maybe identified at designated locations within the merchant physicallocation 200, upon viewing or otherwise interacting with a product inthe merchant physical location 200, upon interacting with a merchantthrough a mobile merchant device, discussed below, and/or at any time orin response to any other customer action known in the art. In someembodiments, any of the sensors 212 in the merchant physical location200 may interact with the customer or a customer device of the customerin order to identify the customer entering the merchant physicallocation 200.

For example, the customer may include a customer device that includes a“check-in” application (e.g., the Foursquare™ application available fromFoursquare Labs, Inc. of New York City, N.Y.), and at block 102 thecustomer may use the check-in application to check into the merchantphysical location 200 by sending information from the customer deviceover a network (e.g., the Internet) to a check-in application provider.The system provider device 211 may then operate to identify the customerentering the merchant physical location 200 after communicating with thecheck-in application provider about the customer check in at themerchant physical location 200. Information retrieved from the check-inapplication provider may include a customer identity, a customer deviceidentifier, NFC communication information associated with the customerdevice, RFID information associated with the customer device, an imageof the customer associated with the customer device, and/or a variety ofother information known in the art that identifies the customer and thatmay allow the customer to be tracked and/or monitored in the merchantphysical location 200 as discussed below.

In another example, the customer may use the customer device at block102 to join a wireless network (e.g., a WiFi network, a Bluetoothnetwork, etc.) provided in the merchant physical location 200, and thejoining of that network will cause the system provider device 211 toidentify that customer. The joining of the network using the customerdevice may result in the automatic retrieval of (or request for theprovision of) customer information that identifies the customer orcustomer device of that customer and that may allow the customer to betracked and/or monitored in the merchant physical location 200 asdiscussed below.

In another example, any of the sensors 212 (e.g., the sensors 212 oneither side of the entrance 204) may communicate with a customer deviceof the customer to identify the customer entreating the merchantphysical location 200 at block 102. In such examples, the customerdevice may include an NFC or RFID system that interacts with the sensors212 to communicate customer information that identifies the customer orthe customer device of the customer and that may allow the customer tobe tracked and/or monitored in the merchant physical location 200 asdiscussed below.

In another example, the sensors may include cameras that capture animage of the customer entering the merchant physical location 200 andprovide that image to the system provider device 211. At block 102, theimage captured of the customer entering the merchant physical location200 may be analyzed and checked against a database of customer imagesusing facial recognition techniques to identify the customer.

While a few examples have been provided, one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure will recognize that a variety ofother systems, methods, and/or techniques for identifying a customer ata physical location will fall within the scope of the presentdisclosure. More technically complicated embodiments may involve theprovision of customer device GPS information to a third party trackingsystem that informs the system provider device 211 when the customer isnear or within the merchant physical location 200, while lesstechnically complicated embodiments may include the merchant at themerchant physical location 200 asking the customer for identifyinginformation as they enter the merchant physical location 200, or handingthe customer a tracking unit that may be used to track the customerthrough the merchant physical location 200 as discussed below.Furthermore, the provision of customer identification information fromthe customer to the merchant-customer engagement system provider devicemay include scanning a card (e.g., via a magnetic scanning system)provided by the customer, scanning a Quick Response (QR) code (via anoptical scanning system) displayed by customer device of the customer,reading a fingerprint or other biometric identification (via a biometricidentification system) of the customer, etc. As such, the presentdisclosure is not meant to be limited to the customer identificationtechniques explicitly described herein.

Thus, the customer entering the merchant physical location 200 at block102 may be identified by a name, a customer account number, a customerdevice identifier (e.g., a phone number, an Internet Protocol (IP)address, etc.), a customer image (e.g., a facial image), a customerbiometric identification (e.g., finger print), a customer address,and/or a variety of other customer identification information known inthe art.

The method 100 then proceeds to block 104 where customer accountinformation for the identified customer is retrieved. In someembodiments, a customer account may have previously been associated withthe customer identified at block 102 in a database accessible by thesystem provider device 211. For example, the customer may havepreviously opened a payment account (e.g., a credit account) with themerchant or other system provider associated with the physical merchantlocation 200. In another example, the merchant or other system providerassociated with the physical merchant location 200 may have associated acustomer tracking account (e.g., an account used to associate theidentity of a customer with that customers actions in the merchantphysical location 200) with the customer on a previous visit of thatcustomer to the merchant physical location 200. In another example, thecustomer may have a payment account provided by a payment accountprovider or payment service provider such as, for example, PayPal Inc.of San Jose, Calif. Thus, customer account information for a variety ofdifferent customer accounts may be retrieved at block 104, includingaccounts associated with the merchant physical location 200, accountsunassociated with the merchant physical location 200, payment accounts,non-payment tracking accounts, and/or a variety of other customeraccounts known in the art.

Furthermore, customer accounts may be created “on-the-fly” for customersthat are identified at block 102 but that are previously unknown to thesystem. In an embodiment, identification of a customer at block 102 mayinclude receiving some distinguishing information from a customer thatwas previously unknown to the system, such as a name, address, emailaddress, image, customer device identifier, and/or a variety of othercustomer identification information known in the art. In suchembodiments, the retrieval of customer account information at block 104may occur as a result of the creating of a customer account for thatpreviously unknown customer. For example, at block 102 the customerentering the merchant physical location 200 may be identified bycapturing an image of the customer, retrieving a customer deviceidentifier from a customer device of the customer, receiving a name,address, or email address of the customer, etc. At subsequent block 104,retrieval of the customer account information may include the systemprovider device 211 creating a customer account for that customer. Thus,customer account information may be retrieved from existing customeraccounts, or customer accounts may be created, in order to allowtracking and monitoring information about those customers to beassociated with those customers for use later in the method 100,discussed below.

In an embodiment, the customer account information retrieved at block104 may be as simple as an account number with which to associated thetracking and monitoring information discussed below with reference toblocks 106, 108, and 110. In other embodiments, the customer accountinformation retrieved at block 104 may include previous tracking andmonitoring information, previous purchases made by the identifiedcustomer, access information to other accounts held by the identifiedcustomer (e.g., such information may provide access to a plurality ofdifferent payment accounts), previous images provided by or taken of thecustomer, and/or a variety of other customer account information knownin the art.

The method 100 then proceeds to block 106 where the location of theidentified customer is tracked within the merchant physical location200. In an embodiment of block 106, the customer may be trackedthroughout the physical merchant location 200 using the sensors 212, acustomer device of the customer, combinations thereof, and/or using avariety of other tracking components known in the art. For example, thecustomer device and the sensors 212 may include NFC or RFIDfunctionality that allows for communication between the customer deviceand sensors 212 as well as the determination of the proximity of thecustomer device to one or more of the sensors 212 (e.g., based on signalstrength or other communication factors.) In another embodiment, thecustomer device and/or sensors 212 may provide a GPS, micro-GPS, orother location determination system that allow for the tracking and/ormonitoring of the location of the customer throughout the merchantphysical location 200. In another embodiment, the sensors may includecameras that take images and/or video of the customer as that customermoves throughout the merchant physical location 200, and those imagesand/or video may be provided to the system provider device 211 forrecognition processing to track and/or monitor the location of thecustomer anywhere within the merchant physical location 200.

The tracking of the location of the customer within the merchantphysical location 200 at block 106 may include the collection andstorage (e.g., in the database accessible by the system provider device211 and in association with the customer account retrieved at block 104)of a variety of different information describing the customer actions inthe merchant physical location 200. For example, such information mayinclude details of how the customer moved through the merchant physicallocation 200 including, but not limited to, physical coordinates of thecustomer within the merchant physical location 200, acceleration orvelocity of the customer between particular areas within the merchantphysical location, and/or any other location tracking information knownin the art. In a specific example, upon entering the merchant physicallocation 200 the customer may be tracked moving through one or more ofthe aisles 208, stopping in an aisle at a particular location adjacent aproduct area 206, moving quickly towards a different product area 206,wandering up and down the same aisle 208, etc. Any information thatresults from the tracking and monitoring at block 106 may be stored bythe system provider device 211 in a database in association with thecustomer account retrieved at block 104.

The method 100 then proceeds to block 108 where the amount of time theidentified customer spends in designated areas within the merchantphysical location are tracked. In an embodiment, as the customer movesthrough the merchant physical location 200 (and during the tracking ofthe location of that customer), timing data associated with thosemovements may be captured by the system provider device 211. Forexample, timing data may be captured and stored about the customer thatdetails how long that customer may stop in an aisle 208 at a particularlocation adjacent a product area 206, how quickly that customer may movetowards a different product area 206, how long that customer may wanderup and down the same aisle 208, how long that customer has been in themerchant physical location 200, etc. Any timing data captured at block106 may be stored by the system provider device 211 in a database inassociation with the customer account retrieved at block 104

The method 100 then proceeds to block 110 where products viewed by theidentified customer are tracked. In an embodiment, the merchant physicallocation 200 may include one of a variety of systems that may includeone or more of the sensors 212, the customer device of the customer, andthe products located in the product areas 210, and those systems areconfigured to allow the products viewed by the customer while in themerchant physical location 200 to be tracked. In one embodiment, themerchant-customer engagement system provider device may use the locationtracking performed at block 106 and the time data tracked at block 108to infer when the customer has viewed a product located in a productarea 206. For example, a customer stopping in an aisle 208 for aparticular length of time next to a particular portion of a product area206 may be inferred to be viewing the product located in that productarea 206 (e.g., particularly when the product is relatively large, suchas in the case of an appliance like a refrigerator or washing machine).In such embodiments, the system provider device 211 may includeinformation about the location and types of products within the merchantphysical location 200 in order to match a location of a customer with aparticular product adjacent that location that the customer may beinferred to be viewing. Furthermore, the location and timing datatracked for the customer may be used with the systems described in theproduct viewing tracking examples below to help determine which productsthe customer has viewed in the merchant physical location 200.

In another example, the customer device of the customer may be used tosend product viewing information to the system provider device 211. Forexample, the customer device of the customer may include a scanningapplication such as for example, the RedLaser® application availablefrom eBay, Inc. of San Jose, Calif. In such an example, the customer mayuse the scanning application and the customer device to scan one or moreproducts located in the product areas 206 of the merchant physicallocation 200, and that scanning information may be provided to thesystem provider device 211 (e.g., over a network from the customerdevice to the scanning application provider device, and over the networkfrom the scanning application provider device to the system providerdevice 211.)

In another embodiment, products located in the product areas may includeNFC or RFID devices that may interact with an NFC or RFID device in thecustomer device (or otherwise associated with the customer as thatcustomers move through the merchant physical location 200) to recordproducts viewed and/or handled by the customer. For example, NFC or RFIDsystems may allow the customer device to detect only products handled bythe customer, and report those products to the system provider device211.

In another embodiment, the sensors may include cameras that captureimages and/or video of the customer's actions in the merchant physicallocation 211, and those images and/or video may be provided to thesystem provider device 211 for analysis to determine which products inthe merchant physical location 200 are being viewed, handled, orotherwise interacted with by the customer. For example, cameras maycapture images or video of the customer handling products from theproduct areas 206, looking at particular products in the product areas206, or otherwise viewing or interacting with products such that thecustomer's interest in that product may be detected (e.g., by an imageof the customer holding the product) or inferred (e.g., by an image ofthe customer looking at the product).

In another embodiment, the customer may include a bag, cart, or otherproduct carrying device that is used to collect products within themerchant physical location prior to paying the merchant for thoseproducts. Using the systems in the product viewing tracking examplesdiscussed above (e.g., NFC or RFID enabled carts and products, imagescaptured of products in the cart, etc.), the products selected by thecustomer for purchase may be tracked.

While a few examples of the tracking of products viewed by the customerhave been described above, one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure will appreciate that variety of systems known in theart may be incorporated into the merchant-customer engagement system toallows products that are viewed, handled, or otherwise interacted withby the customer in the merchant physical location 200 to be trackedwhile remaining within the scope of the present disclosure.

The method 100 may then proceed to block 112 where a purchase historyfor the identified customer is retrieved. In an embodiment, using thecustomer account information retrieved at block 104, a purchase historyof the identified customer may be retrieved by the system providerdevice 211 over the network. For example, the customer accountinformation may include information identifying a payment account thecustomer has with the merchant associated with the merchant physicallocation 200, and at block 112, the purchase history that includes aplurality of products purchased from that merchant may be retrieved. Thepurchase history may include purchases of product made at the merchantphysical location 200, purchases of products made at other physicallocations associated with that merchant, online purchases of productsthrough an online store of the merchant, etc.

In another example, the customer account information may includeinformation identifying a payment account the customer has with apayment account provider or payment service provider, and at block 112,the purchase history that includes a plurality of products purchasedfrom one or more merchants may be retrieved. The purchase history mayinclude purchases of product made at any merchant physical locations,online purchases of products through online store of any merchants, etc.For example, any purchases made by the customer on their credit cardfrom any of a variety of merchants may be retrieved or reviewed.

In an embodiment, the purchase history retrieved at block 112 may belimited to product types. In one embodiment, if the merchant physicallocation sells products of a particular product type or class, thepurchase history retrieved at block 112 may be restricted to purchasesof products that are of that product type or class. For example, themerchant physical location 200 may be a grocery store, and at block 112,the purchase history retrieved for the customer may be limited orrestricted to grocery purchases. In another example, the merchantphysical location 200 may be a clothing store, and at block 112, thepurchase history retrieved for the customer may be limited or restrictedto clothing purchases. In some embodiments, the purchase historyretrieved at block 112 may be limited by a current location of thecustomer within the merchant physical location 200 as tracked at block106, (e.g., limited to cheese purchases if the customer is located in acheese section of a grocery store, limited to blouses if the customer islocated in a blouse section of a clothing store, etc.) or by a productor products viewed by the identified customer as tracked at block 110(e.g., limited to wine if a customer is currently viewing wineproducts.)

In some embodiments, the purchase history retrieved at block 112 may belimited by time periods. For example, only purchases made by theidentified customer in the previous month, week, day, etc. may beconsidered for retrieval as the purchase history at block 112. In someembodiments, the merchant and/or system provider associated with themerchant physical location 200 may be able to adjust the time period forwhich purchase histories may be retrieved at block 112. While a fewexamples of purchase histories have been provided, one of skill in theart in possession of the present disclosure will recognize how theretrieval of purchase histories and filtering of purchase histories todetermine particular products previously purchased by the customerprovides benefits in the merchant-customer engagement system and willfall within the scope of the present disclosure.

The method 100 may then proceed to block 114 where recommended productsfor the identified customer are determined. As discussed below, any ofthe retrieved customer account information, the location tracking, thetime tracking, the product viewing tracking, the purchase history of theidentified customer, and/or any other customer information available tothe system provider device 211 may be used to determine recommendedproducts for the customer. Thus, while many of the examples below withregard to determining recommended products reference informationretrieved from only one of these method blocks, one of skill in the artin possession of the present disclosure will recognize that differentcombinations of information retrieved from multiple blocks of the method100 may provide for more accurate and/or useful product recommendationsfor a customer.

In an embodiment, the customer account information retrieved at block104 may include customer preferences (e.g., provided by the customer inopening the customer account), previous customer tracking information,and/or a variety of other customer account information that may be usedto determine one or more products to recommend to the customer.Furthermore, customer account information may link to multiple customeraccounts from which information may be retrieved in order to determinethe recommended products at block 114. In a specific example, thecustomer account information may include a customer gender and customerpreferences of brands or other product indicators that are used inmaking the product recommendation at block 114. In another specificexample, the customer account information may include a social mediaprofile address for the customer, and the social media profileassociated with that social media profile address may be accessed andthe information in that social media profile (e.g., hobbies, likes,dislikes, groups the customer belongs to, etc.) may be used to determinethe recommended products at block 114.

In an embodiment, the tracked location of the customer within themerchant physical location 200 may be used to determine one or moreproducts to recommend to the customer. For example, the customer'scurrent location in the merchant physical location 200 may coincide witha particular product type or class that may then be used to determine arecommended product at block 114. In another example, the identifiedcustomer's movement towards a particular area of the merchant physicallocation 200 may be used to determine a recommended product that islocated in that particular area to which the customer is headed.

In an embodiment, the tracked amount of time the customer spends indesignated areas within the merchant physical location may be used todetermine one or more products to recommend to the customer. Forexample, the customer's being stopped or located in the same aisle 208for a period of time may be used to determine recommended products inthat aisle at block 114. In another example, the customer's movementquickly into a particular area of the merchant physical location 200(e.g., immediately upon entering the merchant physical location 200) maybe used to determine recommended products located in that area at block114.

In an embodiment, the tracked products viewed by the customer may beused to determine one or more products to recommend to the customer atblock 114. For example, the viewing by the customer of a particularproduct may be used to determine recommended products (e.g., similarproducts, complementary products, etc.) at block 114.

In an embodiment, the purchase history or histories retrieved for thecustomer may be used to determine one or more products to recommend tothe customer at block 114. For example, purchase histories may be usedto determine a type, style, brand, or other product characteristic thatis preferable to the customer, and may be used to determine recommendedproducts at block 114. In another example, a plurality of recentpurchases by the customer that are detailed in the purchase history orhistories may be used to determine a complementary product (associatedwith the recent purchases) to recommend to the customer. In anotherexample, a plurality of recent purchases by the customer may be used todetermine products that should not be recommended to the identifiedcustomer (e.g., a particular shirt associated with a recent purchaseand/or similar shirts may not be recommended to the customer becausethey already own that shirt or a similar shirt.)

Thus, the recommended products for the customer may be determined usinga variety of information retrieved and/or collected for the customerbased on preference information associated with the customer, based onprevious actions of the customer in the merchant physical location 200,based their current actions of the customer in the merchant physicallocation 200, based on a history of purchases by the customer from themerchant associated with the merchant physical location 200, based on ahistory of purchases by the customer elsewhere (e.g., different locationand/or different merchants, and/or a variety of other productrecommendation information known in the art. Furthermore, the trackingof the customer with regard to location, time data, and products viewedmay be continuously performed by the system provider device 211 andused, by itself and/or with the retrieved product history or histories,to determined recommended products for the customer throughout themethod 100. Thus, as the customer moves about the merchant physicallocation 200, different product recommendations may be determined asdescribed above, based on that customers actions within the merchantphysical location 200 such that product recommendations for thatcustomer change as the customer performs different actions within themerchant physical location 200.

The method 100 may then proceed to block 116 where the identifiedcustomer is detected by a merchant mobile device, and then to block 118where merchant-customer engagement information for the identifiedcustomer is provided on the merchant mobile device. The embodimentsdiscussed below provide a few examples of mobile merchant devicesdisplaying merchant-customer engagement information, but those examplesare not meant to be limiting, and other merchant devices and displays ofmerchant-customer engagement information will fall within the scope ofthe present disclosure.

Referring now to FIG. 3, an embodiment of a merchant physical location300 is illustrated that may be the merchant physical location 200discussed above with reference to FIG. 2. The merchant physical location300 includes product areas 302 that may be the product areas 206discussed above with reference to FIG. 2, and a product aisle 304between the product areas 302 that may be one of the product aisles 208discussed above with reference to FIG. 2. In the illustrated embodiment,the merchant physical location 300 is a grocery store, and a customer306 is located in the merchant physical location 300 in the aisle 304.As discussed above with reference to blocks 102-114 of the method 100,the customer 306 may have been identified at the merchant physicallocation 300, had their customer account information retrieved, theirlocation throughout the merchant physical location 300 tracked, timingdata within the merchant physical location 300 tracked, products viewedin the merchant physical location 300 tracked, purchase history orhistories retrieved, and recommended products periodically determinedprior to the customer 306 being located in the aisle 304 of the merchantphysical location 300 as illustrated in FIG. 3.

Referring now to FIGS. 4a, 4b, 4c, and 4d , embodiments of screen shotsfrom a wearable mobile merchant device are illustrated to provide anexample of how merchant-customer engagement information may be providedon a mobile merchant device and used to help the customer 306 at themerchant physical location 300 discussed above with reference to FIG. 3.The wearable mobile merchant device used to provide the screen shotsillustrated in FIGS. 4a, 4b, 4c, and 4d may be a wearable computingdevice such as, for example, Google Glass® available from Google Inc. ofMountain View, Calif., and is discussed more fully below with referenceto FIG. 10. However, for the purposes of the embodiment illustrated inFIGS. 4a-d , the wearable mobile merchant device is being worn by amerchant or merchant employee (“merchant” hereinafter), and includes atransparent display that is positioned between the merchant and thecustomer 306 such that images generated by the wearable mobile merchantdevice may be superimposed over the merchant's view of the customer 306.

FIG. 4a illustrates an embodiment of a customer detection screen 400that is provided at block 116 of the method 100 when the merchantphysically approaches the customer 306 in the merchant physical location300. In the illustrated embodiment, the customer detection screen 400includes a customer detection box 402 that is superimposed over themerchant's view of the customer 306 such that it highlights the face ofthe customer detected at block 116. In different embodiments, thedetection of the identified customer at block 116 may be performed in avariety of ways, a few of which are discussed below.

In one embodiment, the wearable mobile merchant device may capture animage (e.g., via a camera on the wearable mobile merchant device,discussed below with reference to FIG. 10) of the customer and send thatimage to the system provider device 211, and the system provider device211 may then use facial recognition techniques and/or a database imagesearch to determine whether that image matches an image of the customer306 (e.g., previously stored in a database, captured and stored at block102 of the method 100, etc.)

In another embodiment, the location of the wearable mobile merchantdevice in the merchant physical location 300 (e.g., periodicallyprovided to the system provider device 211) may be used along with thelocation tracking information of customers in the merchant physicallocation 300 to detect that the customer 306 is adjacent the merchantand wearable mobile merchant device. In such embodiments, the wearablemobile merchant device may include a compass or other directiondetermination system to help determine which direction the merchant isfacing to assist in detecting the identified customer 306 (e.g.,directionality and location of the wearable mobile merchant device mayhelp to distinguish between customers when multiple customers arelocated adjacent the merchant with the wearable mobile merchant device).In some embodiments, the wearable mobile merchant device may then usefacial recognition techniques to provide the customer detection box 402for the customer that has been detected, and/or to confirm the detectedcustomer.

In another embodiment, NFC or RFID communication between the wearablemobile merchant device and a customer device may be used to detect theidentified customer 306. Thus, as the merchant approaches the customer306, the wearable mobile merchant device and a customer device of thecustomer 306 may communicate to exchange information identifying thecustomer 306 such that the customer is detected at block 116. In someembodiments, the wearable mobile merchant device may then use facialrecognition techniques to provide the customer detection box 402 for thecustomer that has been detected, and/or to confirm the detectedcustomer.

Thus, at block 116 of the method 100, the customer 306 is detected by awearable mobile merchant device worn by a merchant located adjacent thecustomer 306 in the merchant physical location 200, and the methodproceeds to block 118 where merchant-customer engagement information forthe customer is provided on the wearable mobile merchant device. Asdiscussed above, the detection of the customer using the wearable mobilemerchant device at block 116 include the wearable mobile merchant devicereceiving some identifying information about the customer such as, forexample, an image of the customer 306 that is used to detect thecustomer 306, a location of the customer device of the customer 306 thatis used to detect the customer 306, communication of the identity of thecustomer 306 between the customer device of the customer 306 and thewearable mobile merchant device, etc. At block 118, that identifyinginformation is used by the system provider device 211 and matchedagainst a customer identified in the merchant physical location 300 atblock 102. As discussed above, at block 102 of the method 100, customersin the merchant physical location are identified, and thus theidentifying information for the customer detected by the wearable mobilemerchant device may be used by the system provider device 211 at block118 to allow any information collected about that customer 306 to betransmitted to the wearable mobile merchant device. FIGS. 4b and 4cbelow illustrate just a few examples of merchant-customer engagementinformation that may be displayed on the wearable mobile merchant deviceat block 118.

Referring now to FIG. 4b , an embodiment of a merchant-customerengagement information screen 404 displayed on a wearable mobilemerchant device is illustrated. In the illustrated embodiment, themerchant-customer engagement information screen 404 is provided at block118 of the method 100 after detecting the customer 306 at block 116. Forexample, the merchant wearing the wearable mobile merchant deviceapproached the identified customer 306 in the aisle 304, and thewearable mobile merchant device detected the identified customer 306 asdiscussed above. The system provider device 211 then used the detectionof the customer 306 to send back merchant-customer engagementinformation to the wearable mobile merchant device that may include anyinformation tracked or retrieved for the customer 306 during the method100. As illustrated in FIG. 4b , the wearable mobile merchant devicethen provides a merchant-customer engagement information window 406adjacent the customer detection box 402 that includes a plurality ofmerchant-customer engagement information located adjacent the merchant'sview of the customer 306 through the wearable mobile merchant device.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 4b , the merchant-customer engagementinformation displayed in the merchant-customer engagement informationwindow 406 on the wearable mobile merchant device includes customeraccount information such as a customer identification 406 a (e.g.,“Daniel ‘Dan’ Smith” in the illustrated embodiment) that may have beenretrieved at block 104 of the method 100 and that, the illustratedexample, includes a name and nickname of the customer 306. Themerchant-customer engagement information also includes timing data 406 b(e.g., “Time in aisle: 3 m 27 s”) that may have been tracked at block108 of the method 100 and that includes, in the illustrated example, howlong the customer 306 has been located in the aisle 304. Themerchant-customer engagement information also includes purchase historyinformation 406 c (e.g., “Avg. purchase: $45.55”) that may have beenretrieved at block 112 of the method 100 or determined from informationretrieved at block 112 and that includes, in the illustrated example,the average amount the customer 306 spends at the merchant physicallocation 300. The merchant-customer engagement information also includespurchase history information 406 d (e.g., “Last purchase: Stag's LeapCabernet (6/23/2013—in store—$35.00)”) that may have been retrieved atblock 112 of the method 100 and that includes, in the illustratedexample, the most recent purchase of a product associated with a producttype in product area 302. The merchant-customer engagement informationalso includes product viewing information 406 e (e.g., “In card: Salmonfilter (1.48 lb); Broccoli; Basmati Rice”) that may have been tracked atblock 110 of the method 100 or based on the tracking at block 110 (e.g.,a customer cart may include an RFID system that reads RFID on productsto determine what the customer 306 has put in their cart; images of acustomer cart may be captured and analyzed to determined what thecustomer has put in their cart, etc.) The merchant-customer engagementinformation also includes recommended product information 406 f (e.g.,“Recommend: Stag's Leap Chardonnay (On sale—$26.50)”) that may have beendetermined at block 114 of the method 100 based on, for example, theproducts located in the cart of the customer 306 (e.g., a wine pairingfor the food located in the cart of the customer.)

Referring now to FIG. 4c , an embodiment of a merchant-customerengagement information screen 408 is illustrated. In the illustratedembodiment, the merchant-customer engagement information screen 408 maybe selected for display by the merchant wearing the wearable mobilemerchant device after the display of the merchant-customer engagementinformation screen 404, or may be presented by itself or prior to thedisplay of the merchant-customer engagement information screen 404. Forexample, the merchant wearing the wearable mobile merchant deviceapproached the customer 306 in the aisle 304, the wearable mobilemerchant device detected the customer 306 as discussed above andreceived and displayed the merchant-customer engagement informationscreen 404. The system provider device 211 then sends furthermerchant-customer engagement information to the wearable mobile merchantdevice that may include other information tracked or retrieved for thecustomer 306 during the method 100. As illustrated in FIG. 4c , thewearable mobile merchant device has minimized and moved themerchant-customer engagement information window 406 to a differentlocation adjacent the customer detection box 402, and themerchant-customer engagement information window 406 includes some of theplurality of merchant-customer engagement information discussed abovepositioned adjacent the merchant's view of the customer 306 through thewearable mobile merchant device. Furthermore, the furthermerchant-customer engagement information received by the wearable mobilemerchant device may then be displayed adjacent the merchant's view ofthe customer 306, adjacent products in the product areas 302, adjacentthe aisle 304, and any superimposed over any other feature detected inthe view of the merchant.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 4c , the merchant-customer engagementinformation displayed on the wearable mobile merchant device includesdesignated area tracking information 410 a (e.g., “LAST AISLESTOP—Cheese case (2B)” along with a directional arrow towards adesignated area in the merchant physical location 200) that may havebeen tracked at blocks 106 and/or 108 of the method 100 and thatincludes, in the illustrated example, an indication of the aisle thecustomer 306 was previously located in. The merchant-customer engagementinformation also includes product viewing information 410 b (e.g.,“VIEWING Mondavi Pinot Grigio” along with an indicator in the view ofthe merchant that attaches to a product being currently viewed by thecustomer 306) that may have been tracked at block 110 of the method 100or determined from information tracked at block 110 and that includes,in the illustrated example, the name of a product currently beinghandled by the customer 306. The merchant-customer engagementinformation also includes product viewing information 410 c (e.g.,“HANDLED” along with an indicator in the view of the merchant thatattaches to a product previously handled by the customer 306) that mayhave been tracked at block 110 of the method 100 or determined frominformation tracked at block 110 and that includes, in the illustratedexample, an indication of a product in the product area 302 that thecustomer recently handled. The merchant-customer engagement informationalso includes purchase history information 410 d (e.g., “BUYS MOST OFTENCharles Shaw White” along with an indicator in the view of the merchantthat attaches to a product typically purchased by the customer 306) thatmay have been retrieved at block 112 of the method 100 or based on theinformation retrieved at block 112 and that includes, in the illustratedexample, an indication of a product in the product area that thecustomer 306 purchases most often. The merchant-customer engagementinformation also includes purchase history information 410 e (e.g.,“LAST PURCHASE Stags Leap Cabernet” along with an indicator in the viewof the merchant that attaches to a product most recently purchased bythe customer 306) that may have been retrieved at block 112 of themethod 100 or based on the information retrieved at block 112 and thatincludes, in the illustrated example, an indication of a product in theproduct area 302 that the customer 306 most recently purchased.

Referring now to FIG. 4d , an embodiment of a merchant-customerengagement information screen 412 is illustrated. In the illustratedembodiment, the merchant-customer engagement information screen 412 maybe provided for display to the merchant wearing the wearable mobilemerchant device at any time after the display of the merchant-customerengagement information screen 404. For example, the merchant wearing thewearable mobile merchant device approached the customer 306 in the aisle304, the wearable mobile merchant device detected the customer 306 asdiscussed above, and the system provider device 211 then sendsmerchant-customer engagement information to the wearable mobile merchantdevice that may include other information tracked or retrieved for thecustomer 306 during the method 100. As illustrated in FIG. 4d , thewearable mobile merchant device has provided the merchant-customerengagement information window 406 adjacent the customer detection box402, and the merchant-customer engagement information window 406includes some of the plurality of merchant-customer engagementinformation discussed above positioned adjacent the merchant's view ofthe customer 306 through the wearable mobile merchant device.Furthermore, the further merchant-customer engagement informationreceived by the wearable mobile merchant device may then be displayedadjacent the merchant's view of the customer 306.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 4d , the merchant-customer engagementinformation displayed on the wearable mobile merchant device includesshopping list information retrieved from the customer device of thecustomer 306. For example, the customer device of the customer 306 mayinclude a shopping application, notepad, or other list recordingapplication known in the art that allows the customer 306 to create ashopping list of products to purchase when at a merchant physicallocation, and prior to entering the merchant physical location 300, thecustomer 306 may have created such a shopping list by providing productsin the shopping list for purchase at the merchant physical location 300.In an embodiment of block 104, the system provider device may have usedthe customer account information (e.g., access information for thecustomer device, shopping application, etc.) to retrieve the shoppinginformation from the customer device. In other embodiments, the shoppinglist may be retrieved from an online website that allows the customer306 to create shopping lists substantially as discussed above.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4d , the merchant-customerengagement information screen 412 includes a shopping list section 414that includes a plurality of products that were included on the shoppinglist of the customer 306 retrieved at block 104. Furthermore, theshopping list section 414 may have been dynamically changed as thecustomer 306 interacted with products within the merchant physicallocation 300. For example, as discussed above, the merchant physicallocation 300 may include the ability to track products that the customer306 has put in their cart, and when a product in the shopping listsection is put in the cart of the customer 306, that product may be“crossed off”, as illustrated for the toothpaste, shaving cream,Kleenex, and milk products 414 a in the shopping list section 414. Assuch, a plurality of products not “crossed off”, as illustrated for thesalmon, broccoli, rice, and ice cream products 414 b, that are not inthe cart of the customer 306 may be used for product recommendations forthe customer 306. Furthermore, in the illustrated example, the systemprovider device has used the products in the shopping list section 414to determine product recommendations 416 based on the location of thecustomer 306 in the merchant physical location 300. For example, thelocation of the customer 306 in the illustrated embodiment is a winesection of the merchant physical location, and the productrecommendations includes a suggestion of a particular type of wine(e.g., “Stag's Leap Chardonnay”) based on the salmon product 414 b inthe shopping list section 414, as well as a suggestion of anotherparticular type of wine (e.g., Fonseca Port) based on the ice creamproduct 414 b in the shopping list section 414. While a few examples ofproduct recommendations generated by the system provider device has beendiscussed, one of skill in the art in possession of the presentdisclosure will recognize that the display of the shopping list section414 on the merchant-customer engagement information screen 412 providesthe merchant with the ability to provide a wide variety of help for thecustomer 306 that will fall within the scope of the present disclosure,including suggestions for particular products in the shopping listsection 414 but not in the cart of the customer 306 (e.g., SockeyeSalmon on sale for the salmon product 414 b, Ben and Jerry's® ice creamfor the ice cream product 414 b, etc.)

Thus, a variety of merchant-customer engagement information may bedisplayed on the wearable mobile merchant device such that the merchantmay offer to help the customer 306 in determining products to purchase.One of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure willrecognize that a wide variety of merchant-customer engagementinformation not included in the example above may be beneficial inproviding help to a customer, and will fall within the scope of thepresent disclosure. While the display of the merchant-customerengagement information adjacent the view of the customer 306 may provideseveral benefits including, for example, seamless merchant-customerengagement information lookup and use by the merchant when interactingwith the customer 306, such wearable mobile merchant devices are notrequired in some embodiments of the systems and methods of the presentdisclosure.

For example, FIG. 5 illustrates a mobile merchant device 500, describedin more detail with reference to FIG. 11 below, which is displaying thecustomer detection screen 400 on a display 502 (e.g., the mobilemerchant device 500 may include a camera opposite the display 502 thatcaptures the image of the customer 306 in the merchant physical location300 and provides the customer detection screen 400 over that image, asillustrated.) The mobile merchant device 500 may also display selectionbuttons that may be selected by the merchant to display particular typesof merchant-customer engagement information tracked and/or retrievedduring the method 100, including a location button 504 a for displayingmerchant-customer engagement information related to the location of thecustomer 306 in the merchant physical location 300, a timing data button504 b for displaying merchant-customer engagement information related tothe timing data associated with the customer 306 in the merchantphysical location 300, a product viewing button 504 c for displayingmerchant-customer engagement information related to the products viewedby the customer 306 in the merchant physical location 300, a purchasehistory button 504 d for displaying merchant-customer engagementinformation related to the previous purchases by the customer 306, and arecommended products button 504 e for displaying products recommendedfor the customer 306 in the merchant physical location 300. As such, themobile merchant device 500 may display a variety of merchant-customerengagement information screens similar to the merchant-customerengagement information screens 404 and 408 discussed above.

Referring now to FIG. 6, an embodiment of a merchant physical location600 is illustrated that may be the merchant physical location 200discussed above with reference to FIG. 2. The merchant physical location600 includes a product area 602 that may be one of the product areas 206discussed above with reference to FIG. 2, and product aisles adjacenteither side of the product area 602 that may be the product aisles 208discussed above with reference to FIG. 2. In the illustrated embodiment,the merchant physical location 600 is a clothing store, and a customer604 is shopping in the merchant physical location 600 in an aisleadjacent the product area 602. As discussed above with reference toblocks 102-114 of the method 100, the customer 604 may have beenidentified at the merchant physical location 600, had their customeraccount information retrieved, their location throughout the merchantphysical location 600 tracked, timing data within the merchant physicallocation 600 tracked, products viewed in the merchant physical locationtracked, their purchase history or histories retrieved, and recommendedproducts periodically determined prior to the customer 604 being locatedin the aisle of the merchant physical location 300 as illustrated inFIG. 3.

Referring now to FIGS. 7a, 7b, 7c, and 7d , embodiments of screen shotsfrom a wearable mobile merchant device are illustrated to provide anexample of how merchant-customer engagement information may be providedon a mobile merchant device and used to help a customer at the merchantphysical location 600 discussed above with reference to FIG. 6.Similarly as discussed above, the wearable mobile merchant device usedto provide the screen shots illustrated in FIGS. 7a, 7b, 7c, and 7d maybe a wearable computing device such as, for example, Google Glass®available from Google Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., and is discussedmore fully below with reference to FIG. 10. However, for the purposes ofthe embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 7a-d , the wearable mobile merchantdevice is being worn by a merchant or merchant employee (“merchant”hereinafter) and includes a transparent display that is positionedbetween the merchant and the customer 604 such that images generated bythe wearable mobile merchant device may be superimposed over themerchant's view of the customer 604.

FIG. 7a illustrates an embodiment of a customer detection screen 700that is provided at block 116 of the method 100 when the merchantapproaches the customer 604. In the illustrated embodiment, the customerdetection screen 700 includes a customer detection box 702 that issuperimposed over the merchant's view of the customer 604 such that ithighlights the face of the customer detected at block 116. In differentembodiments, the detection of the identified customer at block 116 maybe performed in a variety of ways, a few of which are discussed abovewith reference to FIGS. 4a -c.

Thus, at block 116 of the method 100, the customer 604 is detected by awearable mobile merchant device, and the method proceeds to block 118where merchant-customer engagement information for the customer isprovided on the wearable mobile merchant device. As discussed above, thedetection of the customer by the wearable mobile merchant device atblock 116 include the wearable mobile merchant device receiving someidentifying information about the customer such as, for example, animage of the customer 604 that is used to detect the customer 604, alocation of the customer device of the customer 604 that is used todetect the customer 306, communication of the identity of the customer604 between the customer device of the customer 306 and the wearablemobile merchant device, etc. At block 118, that identifying informationmay be used by the system provider device 211 and matched against acustomer identified in the merchant physical location 600 at block 102.As discussed above, at block 102 of the method 100, customers in themerchant physical location 600 are identified, and thus the identifyinginformation for the customer detected at block 116 may be used by systemprovider device 211 at block 118 to allow any information collectedabout that customer 604 to be transmitted to the wearable mobilemerchant device. FIGS. 7b, 7c, and 7d below illustrate just a fewexamples of merchant-customer engagement information that may bedisplayed on the wearable mobile merchant device at block 118.

Referring now to FIG. 7b , an embodiment of a merchant-customerengagement information screen 704 is illustrated. In the illustratedembodiment, the merchant-customer engagement information screen 704 isprovided at block 118 of the method 100 after detecting the identifiedcustomer 604 at block 116. For example, the merchant wearing thewearable mobile merchant device approached the identified customer 604from an aisle opposite the product area 602 from the customer 604, andthe wearable mobile merchant device detected the identified customer 604as discussed above. The system provider device 211 then sends backmerchant-customer engagement information to the wearable mobile merchantdevice that may include any information tracked or retrieved for thecustomer 604 during the method 100. As illustrated in FIG. 7b , thewearable mobile merchant device then provides a merchant-customerengagement information window 706 adjacent the customer detection box702 that includes a plurality of merchant-customer engagementinformation located adjacent the merchant's view of the customer 604through the wearable mobile merchant device.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 7b , the merchant-customer engagementinformation displayed on the wearable mobile merchant device includescustomer account information such as a customer identification 706 a(e.g., “Caroline ‘Cara’ Jones” in the illustrated embodiment) that mayhave been retrieved at block 104 of the method 100 and that includes, inthe illustrated example, a name and nickname of the customer 604. Themerchant-customer engagement information also includes timing data 706 b(e.g., “Time in store: 35 m 42 s”) that may have been tracked at block108 of the method 100 and that includes, in the illustrated example, atotal amount of time the customer 604 has spent in the merchant physicallocation 600. The merchant-customer engagement information also includespurchase history information 706 c and 706 d (e.g., “Last purchase:Men's dress shirt (Yesterday—online—$89.95” along with an image of theproduct purchased) that may have been retrieved at block 112 of themethod 100 or determined from information retrieved at block 112 andthat includes, in the illustrated example, a description, price,location of purchase, time of purchase, and image of a recentlypurchased product. The merchant-customer engagement information alsoincludes recommended product information 706 e and 706 f (e.g.,“Recommend: Men's tie” along with images of recommended ties for theshirt associated with the purchase history information 706 c and 706 d)that may have been determined at block 114 of the method 100 and thatincludes, in the illustrated example, a description and a plurality ofimages of recommended products. Thus, the customer 604 (a woman) mayhave recently (e.g., the previous day) purchased a men's shirt online,and that information may be displayed to the merchant along withrecommendations for ties that go with the previously purchased shirt.

Referring now to FIG. 7c , an embodiment of a merchant-customerengagement information screen 708 is illustrated. In the illustratedembodiment, the merchant-customer engagement information screen 708 maybe selected for display by the merchant wearing the wearable mobilemerchant device after the display of the merchant-customer engagementinformation screen 704, or may be presented by itself or prior to thedisplay of the merchant-customer engagement information screen 704. Forexample, the merchant wearing the wearable mobile merchant deviceapproached the customer 604 in the aisle across from the product area602, the wearable mobile merchant device detected the customer 604 asdiscussed above and received and displayed the merchant-customerengagement information screen 704. The merchant-customer engagementsystem provider device then sends further merchant-customer engagementinformation to the wearable mobile merchant device that may includeother information tracked or retrieved for the customer 604 during themethod 100. As illustrated in FIG. 7c , the wearable mobile merchantdevice has minimized and moved the merchant-customer engagementinformation window 706 to a different location adjacent the customerdetection box 702, and that merchant-customer engagement informationwindow 706 includes some of the plurality of merchant-customerengagement information discussed above and positioned adjacent themerchant's view of the customer 706 through the wearable mobile merchantdevice. Furthermore, the further merchant-customer engagementinformation received by the wearable mobile merchant device may then bedisplayed adjacent the merchant's view of the customer 604.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 7c , the merchant-customer engagementinformation displayed on the wearable mobile merchant device includesproduct viewing information 708 and 708 a (e.g., “ITEMS BROWSED” alongwith images of the items that the customer 604 has viewed I the merchantphysical location 600) that may have been tracked at block 110 of themethod 100. The merchant-customer engagement information also includespurchase history information 710 and 710 a (e.g., “ITEMS PREVIOUSLYPURCHASED” along with images of products previously purchased by thecustomer 604) that may have been retrieved at block 112 of the method100 or determined from information retrieved at block 112. Thus, themerchant may be presented with a plurality of a products that thecustomer 604 has viewed in their current visit to the merchant physicallocation 600, along with products previously purchased by that customer604, and may use that information to recommend products to the customer604 or help search for products for the customer 604 withoutrecommending or searching for products the customer has already viewedor purchased.

Referring now to FIG. 7d , an embodiment of a merchant-customerengagement information screen 712 is illustrated. In the illustratedembodiment, the merchant-customer engagement information screen 712 maybe selected for display by the merchant wearing the wearable mobilemerchant device after the display of the merchant-customer engagementinformation screen 708, or may be presented by itself or prior to thedisplay of the merchant-customer engagement information screen 708. Forexample, the merchant wearing the wearable mobile merchant deviceapproached the customer 604 in the aisle across from the product area602, the wearable mobile merchant device detected the customer 604 asdiscussed above and received and displayed the merchant-customerengagement information screen 708. The merchant-customer engagementsystem provider device then sends further merchant-customer engagementinformation to the wearable mobile merchant device that may includeother information tracked or retrieved for the customer 604 during themethod 100. As illustrated in FIG. 7d , the wearable mobile merchantdevice has continued to provide the minimized merchant-customerengagement information window 706 (relative to the provision of thatwindow on the merchant-customer engagement information screen 704)adjacent the customer detection box 702, and that merchant-customerengagement information window 706 continues to include some of theplurality of merchant-customer engagement information discussed aboveand positioned adjacent the merchant's view of the customer 706 throughthe wearable mobile merchant device. Furthermore, the furthermerchant-customer engagement information received by the wearable mobilemerchant device may then be displayed adjacent the merchant's view ofthe customer 604.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 7d , the merchant-customer engagementinformation displayed on the wearable mobile merchant device includesproduct viewing information 714 (e.g., “BROWSING BEHAVIOR”) that mayhave been tracked at block 110 of the method 100. In the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 7d , the product viewing information 714 includesproducts viewed 716 by the customer 604 prior to or during their currentvisit to the merchant physical location 600 at a website (e.g., an“online store” of the merchant associated with the merchant physicallocation 600, an online store not associated with the merchant but thatsells similar products as the merchant, etc.), as well as productsviewed 718 by the customer 604 prior to or during to their current visitto the merchant physical location 600 (e.g., “In store”). The productsviewed 716 at the website of the merchant and the products viewed 718 atthe merchant physical location include, for each product viewed, animage of the product viewed, an amount of time the customer 604 spentviewing that product, and a date the customer 604 viewed the product.Therefore, the merchant website and merchant physical location 600 mayprovide for the tracking of product viewing information for customeractions on the website and at the merchant physical location 600, alongwith the association of that information with the customer 604 forretrieval and provision on the wearable mobile merchant device. Thesystem provider device may operate to rank the products viewed by amountof time spent viewing, date viewed, based on products currently beingviewed in the merchant physical location 600, and/or using a variety ofother product ranking criteria known in the art. One of skill in the artin possession of the present disclosure will recognize that the longer acustomer spends browsing a particular product, the higher then interestis in that product or similar products regardless of whether theyactually purchase that product, and such information allows fortargeting product recommendations by a merchant at the merchant physicallocation 600.

Thus, the merchant may be presented with product viewing information forthe customer 604 that details the products the customer 604 hasexpressed interest in both previously and on their current visit to themerchant physical location 600. The presentation of the previous onlineproduct viewing actions, the current online product viewing actions, theprevious in-store product viewing actions, and the current in-storeproduct viewing actions by the customer 604 allow the merchant to makedeterminations about which products the customer 604 is most interestedin (e.g., which items were browsed online and in-store; which productswere browsed for the longest amount of time; etc.), and then makeproduct recommendations for those or similar products to drive in-storepurchasing by the customer 604. The provision of such product viewingactivities may allow the merchant to reverse the “showrooming” behaviordiscussed above by, for example, capturing the customer's interest inproducts as expressed by product viewing activities, and then makingproduct recommendations based on those activities. In addition,showrooming behavior may neutralized by, for example, determiningcurrent online product viewing activities of the customer 604 (e.g., theuse of the customer device by the customer 604 while in the merchantphysical location 600), retrieval of prices for similar products viewedonline by the customer 604, and the possible discounting of productprice or other leveraging of that information to drive a purchase by thecustomer from the merchant physical location 600.

Therefore, a variety of merchant-customer engagement information may bedisplayed on the wearable mobile merchant device such that the merchantmay offer to help the customer 604 in determining products to purchase.One of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure willrecognize that a wide variety of merchant-customer engagementinformation not included in the example above may be beneficial inproviding help to a customer, and will fall within the scope of thepresent disclosure. While the display of the merchant-customerengagement information adjacent the view of the customer 604 may provideseveral benefits including, for example, seamless merchant-customerengagement information lookup and use when the merchant is interactingwith the customer 604, such wearable mobile merchant devices are notrequired in some embodiments of the systems and methods of the presentdisclosure, and a mobile merchant devices similar to the mobile merchantdevice 500 discussed above may provide merchant-customer engagementinformation screens similar to the merchant-customer engagementinformation screens 704 and 708.

Thus, systems and methods for providing merchant-customer engagementhave been described that provide a merchant with a wide variety ofinformation about a customer in a merchant physical location that allowsthat merchant to provide the most pertinent help to that customer. Inspecific embodiments, the merchant may wear a wearable mobile merchantdevice that displays merchant-customer engagement information adjacentthe merchant's view of the customer so that the merchant-customerengagement information is quickly and easily referenced by the merchantwhile dealing with and helping that customer. Furthermore,merchant-customer engagement information may be determined from avariety of customer actions prior to the visit to the merchant physicallocation (e.g., previous purchases from the merchant or others) and/or avariety of customer actions in the merchant physical location (based onthe tracking of the customer's movements through the merchant physicallocation, the products viewed by the customer in the merchant physicallocation, etc.) Providing the merchant with such pertinent informationin such a manner allows the merchant to provide help to the customerthat increases the chances of the customer making a purchase andreturning to the merchant physical location to make further purchases,as the merchant-customer engagement information provides the merchant anintimate knowledge of the customer and allows help to be provided thatis very specifically tailored to that customer.

Referring now to FIG. 8, an embodiment of a network-based system 800 forimplementing one or more processes described herein is illustrated. Asshown, network-based system 800 may comprise or implement a plurality ofservers and/or software components that operate to perform variousmethodologies in accordance with the described embodiments. Exemplaryservers may include, for example, stand-alone and enterprise-classservers operating a server OS such as a MICROSOFT® OS, a UNIX® OS, aLINUX® OS, or other suitable server-based OS. It can be appreciated thatthe servers illustrated in FIG. 8 may be deployed in other ways and thatthe operations performed and/or the services provided by such serversmay be combined or separated for a given implementation and may beperformed by a greater number or fewer number of servers. One or moreservers may be operated and/or maintained by the same or differententities.

The embodiment of the networked system 800 illustrated in FIG. 8includes a plurality of customer devices 802, a plurality of merchantdevices 804, a payment service provider device 806, an account holderdevice 808, and/or a system provider device 809 coupled together througha network 810. The customer devices 802 may be the customer devicesdiscussed above and may be operated by the customers, discussed above.The merchant devices 804 may be the system provider device and/or mobilemerchant devices discussed above and may be operated by the merchantsdiscussed above. The payment service provider device 806 may be thepayment service provider devices discussed above and may be operated bya payment service provider such as, for example, PayPal Inc. of SanJose, Calif. The account provider device 808 may be the account providerdevices discussed above and may be operated by the account providersdiscussed above such as, for example, credit card account providers,bank account providers, savings account providers, and a variety ofother account providers known in the art. The system provider device 809may be the system provider devices discussed above and may be operatedby the system providers discussed above.

The customer devices 802, merchant devices 804, payment service providerdevice 806, account provider device 808, and/or system provider device809 may each include one or more processors, memories, and otherappropriate components for executing instructions such as program codeand/or data stored on one or more computer readable mediums to implementthe various applications, data, and steps described herein. For example,such instructions may be stored in one or more computer readable mediumssuch as memories or data storage devices internal and/or external tovarious components of the system 800, and/or accessible over the network810.

The network 810 may be implemented as a single network or a combinationof multiple networks. For example, in various embodiments, the network810 may include the Internet and/or one or more intranets, landlinenetworks, wireless networks, and/or other appropriate types of networks.

The customer devices 802 may be implemented using any appropriatecombination of hardware and/or software configured for wired and/orwireless communication over network 810. For example, in one embodiment,the customer devices 802 may be implemented as a personal computer of acustomer in communication with the Internet. In other embodiments, thecustomer devices 802 may be a smart phone, personal digital assistant(PDA), laptop computer, and/or other types of computing devices.

The customer devices 802 may include one or more browser applicationswhich may be used, for example, to provide a convenient interface topermit the customer to browse information available over the network810. For example, in one embodiment, the browser application may beimplemented as a web browser configured to view information availableover the Internet.

The customer devices 802 may also include one or more toolbarapplications which may be used, for example, to provide user-sideprocessing for performing desired tasks in response to operationsselected by the customer. In one embodiment, the toolbar application maydisplay a user interface in connection with the browser application.

The customer devices 802 may further include other applications as maybe desired in particular embodiments to provide desired features to thecustomer devices 802. In particular, the other applications may includea payment application for payments assisted by a payment serviceprovider through the payment service provider device 806. The otherapplications may also include security applications for implementinguser-side security features, programmatic user applications forinterfacing with appropriate application programming interfaces (APIs)over the network 810, or other types of applications. Email and/or textapplications may also be included, which allow the customer to send andreceive emails and/or text messages through the network 810. Thecustomer devices 802 include one or more user and/or device identifierswhich may be implemented, for example, as operating system registryentries, cookies associated with the browser application, identifiersassociated with hardware of the customer devices 802, or otherappropriate identifiers, such as a phone number. In one embodiment, thecustomer identifier may be used by the merchant devices 804, paymentservice provider device 806, account provider device 808, and/or systemprovider device 809 to associate the customer with a particular accountas further described herein.

The merchant devices 804 may be maintained, for example, by aconventional or on-line merchant, conventional or digital goods seller,individual seller, and/or application developer offering variousproducts and/or services in exchange for payment to be receivedconventionally or over the network 810. In this regard, the merchantdevices 804 may include a database identifying available products and/orservices (e.g., collectively referred to as items) which may be madeavailable for viewing and purchase by the customer.

The merchant devices 804 also include a checkout application which maybe configured to facilitate the purchase by the payer of items. Thecheckout application may be configured to accept payment informationfrom the customer through the customer devices 802, the account providerthrough the account provider device 808, and/or from the payment serviceprovider through the payment service provider device 806 over thenetwork 810.

Referring now to FIG. 9, an embodiment of a customer device 900 isillustrated. The customer device 900 may be any of the customer devicesdiscussed above. The customer device 900 includes a chassis 902 having adisplay 904 and an input device including the display 904 and aplurality of input buttons 906. One of skill in the art will recognizethat the customer device 900 is a portable or mobile phone including atouch screen input device and a plurality of input buttons that allowthe functionality discussed above with reference to the method 100.However, a variety of other portable/mobile customer devices and/ordesktop customer devices may be used in the method 100 without departingfrom the scope of the present disclosure.

Referring now to FIG. 10, an embodiment of a wearable mobile merchantdevice 1000 is illustrated. The wearable mobile merchant device 1000 maybe any of the wearable mobile merchant devices discussed above. Thewearable mobile merchant device 1000 includes a wearable frame 902 that,in the illustrated embodiment, is similar to an eyeglass frame. Acomputing chassis 904 is affixed to the wearable frame 902 and includesa transparent display 906 that extends from the computing chassis 904and into a field of view of a user of the wearable mobile merchantdevice 1000. The computing chassis 904 also includes a microphone 908and a camera 910. One of skill in the art will recognize that thewearable mobile merchant device 1000 is Google Glass® type wearablemobile device available from Google, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. thatallow the functionality discussed above with reference to the method100. However, a variety of other wearable portable/mobile devices may beused in the method 100 without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure.

Referring now to FIG. 11, an embodiment of a mobile merchant device 1100is illustrated. The mobile merchant device 11000 may be any of themobile merchant devices discussed above. The mobile merchant device 1100includes a chassis 1102 having a display 1104 and an input deviceincluding the display 1104 and an input button 1106. One of skill in theart will recognize that the mobile merchant device 1100 is a portable ormobile tablet computer including a touch screen input device and inputbutton that allow the functionality discussed above with reference tothe method 100. However, a variety of other portable/mobile devicesand/or desktop devices may be used in the method 100 without departingfrom the scope of the present disclosure.

Referring now to FIG. 12, an embodiment of a computer system 1200suitable for implementing, for example, the customer devices discussedabove, the merchant devices discussed above, the payment serviceprovider devices discussed above, the account provider devices discussedabove, and/or the system provider devices discussed above, isillustrated. It should be appreciated that other devices utilized bycustomers, merchants, payment service providers, account providers,and/or system providers in the merchant-customer engagement systemdiscussed above may be implemented as the computer system 1200 in amanner as follows.

In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure,computer system 1200, such as a computer and/or a network server,includes a bus 1202 or other communication mechanism for communicatinginformation, which interconnects subsystems and components, such as aprocessing component 1204 (e.g., processor, micro-controller, digitalsignal processor (DSP), etc.), a system memory component 1206 (e.g.,RAM), a static storage component 808 (e.g., ROM), a disk drive component1210 (e.g., magnetic or optical), a network interface component 1212(e.g., modem or Ethernet card), a display component 1214 (e.g., CRT orLCD), an input component 1218 (e.g., keyboard, keypad, or virtualkeyboard), a cursor control component 1220 (e.g., mouse, pointer, ortrackball), a location determination component 1222 (e.g., a GlobalPositioning System (GPS) device as illustrated, a cell towertriangulation device, and/or a variety of other location determinationdevices known in the art), and/or a camera component 1223 In oneimplementation, the disk drive component 1210 may comprise a databasehaving one or more disk drive components.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the computersystem 1200 performs specific operations by the processor 1204 executingone or more sequences of instructions contained in the memory component1206, such as described herein with respect to the customer devices, themerchant devices, the payment service provider devices, the accountprovider devices, and/or the system provider devices. Such instructionsmay be read into the system memory component 1206 from another computerreadable medium, such as the static storage component 1208 or the diskdrive component 1210. In other embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may beused in place of or in combination with software instructions toimplement the present disclosure.

Logic may be encoded in a computer readable medium, which may refer toany medium that participates in providing instructions to the processor1204 for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but notlimited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media.In one embodiment, the computer readable medium is non-transitory. Invarious implementations, non-volatile media includes optical or magneticdisks, such as the disk drive component 1210, volatile media includesdynamic memory, such as the system memory component 1206, andtransmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire, and fiberoptics, including wires that comprise the bus 1202. In one example,transmission media may take the form of acoustic or light waves, such asthose generated during radio wave and infrared data communications.

Some common forms of computer readable media includes, for example,floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magneticmedium, CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, anyother physical medium with patterns of holes, RAM, PROM, EPROM,FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, carrier wave, or anyother medium from which a computer is adapted to read. In oneembodiment, the computer readable media is non-transitory.

In various embodiments of the present disclosure, execution ofinstruction sequences to practice the present disclosure may beperformed by the computer system 1200. In various other embodiments ofthe present disclosure, a plurality of the computer systems 1200 coupledby a communication link 1224 to the network 810 (e.g., such as a LAN,WLAN, PTSN, and/or various other wired or wireless networks, includingtelecommunications, mobile, and cellular phone networks) may performinstruction sequences to practice the present disclosure in coordinationwith one another.

The computer system 1200 may transmit and receive messages, data,information and instructions, including one or more programs (i.e.,application code) through the communication link 1224 and the networkinterface component 1212. The network interface component 1212 mayinclude an antenna, either separate or integrated, to enabletransmission and reception via the communication link 1224. Receivedprogram code may be executed by processor 1204 as received and/or storedin disk drive component 1210 or some other non-volatile storagecomponent for execution.

Referring now to FIG. 13, an embodiment of a system provider device 1300is illustrated. In an embodiment, the device 1300 may be the systemprovider devices discussed above, the mobile merchant devices discussedabove, and/or combinations thereof. The device 1300 includes acommunication engine 1302 that is coupled to the network 810 and to userhelp engine 1304 that is coupled to a customer account database 1306.The communication engine 1302 may be software or instructions stored onone or more computer-readable mediums that allows the device 1300 tosend and receive information over the network 810. The merchant-customerengagement engine 1304 may be software or instructions stored on acomputer-readable medium that is operable to identify customers in amerchant physical location, retrieve and/or create customer accounts foridentified customers, track customer locations within the merchantphysical location, track timing data for identified customers, trackproducts viewed for identified customers, retrieve purchase historiesfor identified customers, determine product recommendations foridentified customers, detect customer (e.g., via a mobile merchantdevice), display merchant-customer engagement information (e.g., on amobile merchant device), and provide any of the other functionality thatis discussed above. While the database 1306 has been illustrated aslocated in the system provider device 1300, one of skill in the art willrecognize that it may be connected to the merchant-customer engagementengine 1304 through the network 810 without departing from the scope ofthe present disclosure.

Where applicable, various embodiments provided by the present disclosuremay be implemented using hardware, software, or combinations of hardwareand software. Also, where applicable, the various hardware componentsand/or software components set forth herein may be combined intocomposite components comprising software, hardware, and/or both withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure. Where applicable,the various hardware components and/or software components set forthherein may be separated into sub-components comprising software,hardware, or both without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. In addition, where applicable, it is contemplated thatsoftware components may be implemented as hardware components andvice-versa.

Software, in accordance with the present disclosure, such as programcode and/or data, may be stored on one or more computer readablemediums. It is also contemplated that software identified herein may beimplemented using one or more general purpose or specific purposecomputers and/or computer systems, networked and/or otherwise. Whereapplicable, the ordering of various steps described herein may bechanged, combined into composite steps, and/or separated into sub-stepsto provide features described herein.

The foregoing disclosure is not intended to limit the present disclosureto the precise forms or particular fields of use disclosed. As such, itis contemplated that various alternate embodiments and/or modificationsto the present disclosure, whether explicitly described or impliedherein, are possible in light of the disclosure. For example, the aboveembodiments have focused on merchants and customers; however, a customeror consumer can pay, or otherwise interact with any type of recipient,including charities and individuals. The payment does not have toinvolve a purchase, but may be a loan, a charitable contribution, agift, etc. Thus, merchant as used herein can also include charities,individuals, and any other entity or person receiving a payment from apayer. Having thus described embodiments of the present disclosure,persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that changes may bemade in form and detail without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is limited only by the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system, comprising: a non-transitory memory;and one or more hardware processors coupled to the non-transitory memoryand configured to execute instructions to cause the system to performoperations comprising: detecting that a customer device has entered amerchant physical location; tracking, via communications with thecustomer device subsequent to the detecting, a plurality of differentlocations of the customer device within the merchant physical locationthat indicate movement of the customer device through the merchantphysical location; identifying a product that is within the merchantphysical location based at least in part on: location data based on thetracking that indicates that the customer device was within a firstdistance to the product; and timing data based on the tracking thatindicates that the customer device was within a second distance to theproduct for a time period that is indicative of the product beingviewed; receiving, from a mobile merchant device that is different fromthe customer device, an identification of a customer; determining thatthe customer is associated with the customer device; generating, inresponse to the determining, a graphical user interface that identifiesa product type of the product; and causing the graphical user interfaceto be displayed on the mobile merchant device.
 2. The system of claim 1,wherein the operations further comprise: retrieving, in response to thedetermining, previous purchase information about a previous purchasemade by the customer, wherein the graphical user interface includes theprevious purchase information.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein theprevious purchase made by the customer was online.
 4. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: retrieving recommendedproduct information about a recommended product, wherein the graphicaluser interface includes the recommended product information.
 5. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface identifies theproduct type of the product, at least in part, by including an image ofthe product type.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: retrieving, in response to the determining, browsingbehavior information about online browsing behavior for the customer,wherein the graphical user interface includes the browsing behaviorinformation.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the first distance andthe second distance are the same.
 8. A method, comprising: tracking, bya system provider device via communications with a customer device thatis moving within a merchant physical location, location data and timingdata for the customer device that indicate movement of the customerdevice through the merchant physical location; identifying, by thesystem provider device, a product that is included in the merchantphysical location, wherein the product is identified based at leastpartly on a subset of the timing data and a subset of the location datathat indicate that the customer device was within a threshold distanceto the product for a time period that is indicative of the product beingviewed; receiving, by the system provider device from a mobile merchantdevice that is different from the customer device, an identification ofa customer; determining, by the system provider device, that thecustomer is associated with the customer device; and generating, by thesystem provider device and in response to determining that the customeris associated with the customer device, a graphical user interface thatidentifies a product type of the product; and causing the graphical userinterface to be displayed on the mobile merchant device.
 9. The methodof claim 8, further comprising: retrieving, by the system providerdevice in response to determining that the customer is associated withthe customer device, previous purchase information about a previouspurchase made by the customer, wherein the graphical user interfaceincludes the previous purchase information.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein the previous purchase information about the previous purchasemade by the customer includes purchase information about a previouspurchase made by the customer at the merchant physical location.
 11. Themethod of claim 8, further comprising: retrieving, by the systemprovider device, recommended product information about a recommendedproduct, wherein the graphical user interface includes the recommendedproduct information with the product type.
 12. The method of claim 8,wherein the graphical user interface identifies the product type of theproduct, at least in part, by including an image of the product type.13. The method of claim 8, further comprising: retrieving, by the systemprovider device, pricing information about the product type, wherein thegraphical user interface includes the pricing information.
 14. Themethod of claim 8, further comprising: detecting, by the system providerdevice, at least one item that is located in a cart associated with thecustomer, wherein the graphical user interface identifies the at leastone item.
 15. A non-transitory, machine-readable medium having storedthereon machine-readable instructions executable to cause a machine toperform operations comprising: communicating with a customer device thatis moving through a merchant physical location; tracking, based on thecommunicating, different locations of the customer device within themerchant physical location; determining timing data based on thetracking that indicates the customer device was within a thresholddistance to a product located within the merchant physical location fora time period that is indicative of the product being viewed by acustomer associated with the customer device; identifying the productbased at least in part on the timing data; receiving, from a mobilemerchant device that is different from the customer device, anidentification of the customer; determining that the customer isassociated with the customer device; generating, in response todetermining that the customer is associated with the customer device, agraphical user interface that identifies a product type of the product;and causing the graphical user interface to be displayed on the mobilemerchant device.
 16. The non-transitory, machine-readable medium ofclaim 15, wherein the operations further comprise: retrieving, inresponse to determining that the customer is associated with thecustomer device, previous purchase information about a previous purchasemade by the customer, wherein the graphical user interface includes theprevious purchase information.
 17. The non-transitory, machine-readablemedium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise: retrievingrecommended product information about a recommended product, wherein thegraphical user interface includes the recommended product information.18. The non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein thegraphical user interface identifies the product type of the product, atleast in part, by including an image of the product type.
 19. Thenon-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein theoperations further comprise: retrieving, in response to determining thatthe customer is associated with the customer device, browsing behaviorinformation about online browsing behavior for the customer, wherein thegraphical user interface includes the browsing behavior information. 20.The non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein theoperations further comprise: Detecting at least one item that is locatedin a cart associated with the customer, wherein the graphical userinterface identifies the at least one item.